South Florida by the numbers: Bright spots in a challenging market

Pharrell Williams (Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Pharrell Williams (Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

“South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics.

While the Miami residential real estate market has struggled as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak — like many others across the country — it remains upright. Local agents have quickly shifted marketing tactics and strategies, finding ways to connect buyers and sellers despite fluctuating legal requirements, unprecedented safety precautions and various other obstacles. While these challenges loom over the foreseeable future, we take a moment in this month’s edition of South Florida by the numbers to recognize some bright spots in our industry and market.

3: As of May 6, the number of consecutive weeks in which national mortgage applications to buy single-family homes had increased. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s metric, called the “purchase index,” had jumped by 12 percent the previous week and by 3 percent the week before that, demonstrating a clear sign of life in a residential market depressed by the coronavirus. [TheRealDeal]

100: Consecutive months in which home prices increased in Miami, as of March. (The median price increased from $352,250 in March 2019 to $382,750.) Year-over-year sales for Miami condos priced from $300,000 to $400,000 increased 44.2 percent; single-family homes priced from $400,000 to $600,000 increased 22.8 percent; single-family homes priced at $1 million and up increased 17.1 percent. [MiamiAgentMagazine]

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28: Percentage of canceled Miami home sale contracts during the week of April 19-25, which represented the lowest percentage of canceled sales contracts since the pandemic started, according to a study by Master Broker Jo-Ann Forster. It was also the third straight week of reduced percentages for canceled contracts. [MiamiHerald]

10: Over three NAR surveys conducted in April, the decreased percentage points (from 45 percent to 35 percent) of real estate agents who reported a more than 50 percent decline in buyer interest. [MiamiAgentMagazine]

$30 million: Price paid by rapper/producer Pharrell Williams in April for a 17,025-square-foot, 3.3-acre home at 700 Casuarina Concourse in Coral Gables. Master Broker Dennis Carvajal represented the sellers, former Univision executive Ray Rodriguez and his wife, Liana. [TheRealDeal]

This column is produced by the Master Brokers Forum, a network of South Florida’s elite real estate professionals where membership is by invitation only and based on outstanding production, as well as ethical and professional behavior.